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The ultimate surprise there, adds Johns Hopkins University military historian Mary Habeck, "was that Rome fell, not that the city was attacked."Ģ) The Battle of Trenton, 1776. The three-day siege was the first time in centuries that Rome had been sacked and invaded, says Dameron, "and it was a massive political and psychological blow." Non-Christian Romans blamed the sacking on the abandonment of the traditional Roman gods. Aided by rebellious slaves, Alaric I and the Visigoths rushed through a city gate unexpectedly. Here are five:ġ) The Sack of Rome by the Visigoths, A.D. We asked Dameron and a handful of other historians from around the country to help us examine other clandestine attacks throughout history. Virgil's description of Troy's destruction, Dameron says, provides the back story for events that ultimately led to the founding of Rome.Īnd the mythic success of the Trojan Horse victory set a high bar for surprise - and world-changing - attacks that followed through the eons. No one today can read the story of Troy's destruction by the 'treacherous' Greeks without being moved." Virgil's first century poem, The Aeneid, tells the story of the Trojan Horse from the point of view of the Trojans, Dameron says, "and not only is it one of the most beautiful poems ever, but it is one of the most moving accounts of the wanton destruction of an entire city from the point of view of the victims. "The story may be based on an actual war," Dameron explains, "but the account of the war was certainly embellished over the centuries" between the event - fought during the 12th or 13th century B.C., the ancients believed - and its recounting in The Odyssey, written by Homer circa the 8th century B.C. They emerge and, in a surprise attack, defeat the Trojans. In one version of the tale, the Greeks finagle a way to get a large wooden horse inside the City of Troy. The episode, explains George Dameron, a history professor at Saint Michael's College in Colchester, Vt., is associated with the 10-year war between Greeks and Trojans. One of the earliest accounts of an epic surprise attack comes from Greek mythology: the Trojan Horse. And, perhaps, the most powerful weapon of all. The element of surprise can be a very potent change agent. Sudden assailments have toppled societies and shaken civilizations.
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11 attacks fall into the latter category. Through the centuries, there have been unexpected strikes on civilian targets that occurred during wars - declared or not - and peacetime attacks that came completely out of the blue. 11 would "alter the course of history."īut the shocking assaults in 2001 on the World Trade towers, the Pentagon and the planned hit on the Capitol were not the first surprise attacks that changed the way humans do business. The headline writers at USA Today put it this way: "9/11: How One Day Changed Our World." National Geographic observed that the attacks of Sept. One of the earliest accounts of a surprise attack comes from Greek mythology: the Trojan Horse.